A Habitat of Great Botanic Interest

The area covers about 465 hectares (two of them with a recreational area) around the river's springs (2,020 meters above sea-level) which are situated in the amphitheater of the Pian del Re, 7 km upstream Monte Crissolo, the last inhabited center of the Val Po. The area is dominated by the imposing Monviso Group. The abundance of water, given to the melting of the snow, and the morphology of the soil gave rise to a peatbog near the springs of the river Po. It is a habitat of great botanic interest, where it is possible to find a great variety of species, among which some "relicts" of glacial flora which arrived in these areas more than two hundred thousand years ago, like the Juncus triglumis and the Trichophorum pumilium. A rare small amphibian, the Lanza's black salamander, lives here.